NCSU GIS/MEA582:
Geospatial Modeling and Analysis

This is an unmaintained course material, please see current material at:

Midterm exam

This is a take home, open book exam handled by Moodle, no on-campus presence needed. The exam is the same for the regular and distance sections. You can use on-line and printed resources, but the responses should be your own work. Questions will be available in Moodle on Day 1, before noon, answers are due on Day 2 at 11.45 pm EST, by submitting a pdf file named LastnameFirstname_Exam.pdf to Moodle. See the schedule for the dates for Day 1 and Day 2.

  • Sample questions
    • What is a cartographic projection and which common projections are used in US? What does NAD83 stand for?
    • What is the difference between cost surface and cumulative cost surface? What are they used for?
    • Compute cumulative cost surface and least cost path between two given locations
    • Describe basic digital terrain representations used in GIS and their properties
    • What is spatial interpolation, provide general interpolation equation and describe spatial interpolation methods and their properties
    • Define point topographic parameters and provide general equations for the parameters based on differentail geometry.
    • Provide equations for estimating partial derivatives from raster-based DEMs
    • Provide example of a problem or task that can be solved using viewshed analysis
    • Compute a map of solar incidence angle for a given date and time.
    • Compute canopy height raster map using bare earth and first return point clouds.
  • Most questions require computation of a graphical output or development of a GIS-based workflow. The answer should include bullets describing the sequence of operations, actual commands used where applicable, and results in form of images or maps.
  • Include a brief 1-2 page progress report on your project as part of your midterm, (what have you done and what is holding you back).